Puritan Quote

"A man may be theologically knowing and spiritually ignorant."
STEPHEN CHARNOCK

House sitting

When we moved back to Texas a few months ago we began what now seems to be an almost permanent line of house sitting gigs. We just moved into our newest setup where we'll be for six weeks. This particular household has no tv and no internet access and I have to say that it has the most peaceful feeling of any home I've been in a long time. It's quiet - even with my four, four-and-unders running amok, and I like it! If and when the Lord sees fit for us to find a home of our own(we're trying to buy my Grandmother's house but it may not happen) I don't want to have those things in it. I think my kids will be smarter, my husband will be happier, and I will be much much saner - we hope. :)

If you can't take the heat...

Okay, it's official! We are really back in Texas now, since we topped out at 99 degrees this weekend. And to tell you the truth it really wasn't all that bad. Back in California, when it was that hot, you just had to suffer it out, which I did two out of the four summers pregnant! But here, all you do is go from one air conditioned place to the next and the only time you feel the heat is on your way out to your car, which is also conveniently air conditioned. Just mind the steering wheel and the metal on the seat belts for a few minutes until the cool air cools them down! We even got to go swimming and the pool felt amazing WITHOUT a heater! Well, it's only just begun, but Lord willing we'll survive this heat and we'll do it enjoying a nice cold frozen Margarita! Adios, y'all!

An Intimate Moment with Father and Son

Here is an excerpt from Jonathan Edwards' autibiographical account of his awakening to God's love. It is the story of an earthly father but more importantly the overwhelming love of our true Father.

"Not long after I first began to experience these things, I gave an account to my father of some things that had passed in my mind. I was pretty much affected by the discourse we had together; and when the discourse was ended, I walked abroad alone, in a solitary place in my father's pasture, for contemplation. And as I was walking there, and looking up on the sky and clouds, there came into my mind so sweet a sense of the glorious majesty and grace of God, that I know not how to express. I seemed to see them both in a sweet conjunction; majesty and meekness joined together; it was a sweet, and gentle, and holy majesty; and also a majestic meekness; an awful sweetness; a high, and great, and holy gentleness."

How wonderful and kind of our Father to show his lowly son a bit of His glory. A great Daddy delighting Himself in sharing an intimate moment with his child.

To read more go to JonathanEdwards.com

Pecan Pie Ice Cream!

Yes, I know! I couldn't have been more excited to see this version of ice cream either! We're in the process of changing houses(we're housesitting for two families as the big ordeal of actually buying a house is about as slow as molasses in January) and I guess my husband could see how stressed I was getting because he came home with a big bucket of this stuff and let me just tell you, it is every bit as good as you can imagine! Now, excuse me while I go bury my inner turmoil in sugar, cream, and pecans....

Date Night!

Well, dear hubby and I finally got to go out alone tonight. We hadn't been on a date in about three months which actually, for us, is not that long. When we were out in California we would have to wait until a Grandma flew in from either Texas or Scotland in order to get a date night. So, my sweet sister was in town - who is my bestest friend next of course to dear hubby, and who is the namesake for dear daughter #2 - and she watched all four of my kids along with all five of hers so my honeybuns and I could go out for a couple of hours.
We went to the Cotton Patch Cafe which was great and ate some real Texas chicken fried steak! It was smothered in country style gravy with country style mashed potatoes and country corn on the side. What more could a country girl ask for? How nice to hold hands over the table and not be interrupted a cajillion times! Well, anyway, enough blogging for one night. Time to go and kiss my handsome date good night! ;)

We shall no longer be ashamed right?

I wonder if that includes blatant plugging of your husbands work? I have, according to Debi Pearl's new book, Created to be His Help Meet a Mr. Steady/Visionary husband. I think I have the best of both worlds really. He is such a hard worker - sometimes to my annoyance :), and is always working on meaningful projects in addition to his 9 to 5. Anyway, he is about to release his latest movie, Shaky Town. It's our first hand view of the homosexual marriage movement that has been going on in San Francisco. Don' t forget to watch out for our beloved Pastor McIlhenny and wife Donna who have fought hard against this insurgence for 30 years and have undergone horrors and heartache for the sake of God's truth. Don't think that there isn't real and life threatening Christian persecution today even in the great U.S. of A. Enjoy! www.shakytownthemovie.com

P.S. Did I mention my brilliant husband also won the award for best Political Film at Vision Forum's Independent Christian Film Festival in San Antonio for this very movie? Oh, the shame, the shame....!

Proof of insanity

I go around my house singing all of these really bad made up songs all day. They are usually rip offs of famous songs with changes made ranging from just one word to a complete lyric redo. I don't sit down and come up with these songs, most of the time I just find myself singing them and making them up as I go, sometimes, to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure where they came from. I know, it scares me too. Well, I usually just sing about my kids or my husband, but now I'm starting to sing about blogging. Oh, dear. Here's one for you to hum along with next time you find yourself addicted to this cultural phenomenon of Blogs. It is sung to the tune of a song from Mary Poppins, you know the one with the crazy uncle that laughs so much he floats up to the ceiling. Hmmm, me thinks I see an analogy coming on.... laughing makes you fly, maybe I hope blogging will help me to fly, fly away from dealing with two year olds who play in the poopy toilet their three year old brothers have left behind - yes this really happened today, btw. :(

Anyways! Here it goes:

I love to blog,
loud and long and free!
I love to blog,
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
The more the merrier I'll be!

Well, I never claimed to be Bob Dylan, but, hey, if it keeps a mommy dancing all day, it can't be all bad, eh?

And now, as my husband says,

Cheers!

Amazing Love, How Can it Be...

Just to remind myself, none of the rest of you probably need it, right ;)...

When no one else cares that you hurt or even that they hurt you, God still loves us. When we are seen for the wicked evil creatures that we are, and our friends or loved ones turn away in disgust, God says He already knew it and loves us still. I don't have to hang my head in terrible shame - Bold, I approach the eternal throne, and claim the crown through Christ, my own!

Each tear will be accounted for and wiped away by my Great Papa and King.

A Princess and a Kiss

We just got this children's book in the mail today. It's called The Princess and the Kiss and it's about the giving away the gift of purity of your first kiss at your wedding - sooo sweet! I read it to my eldest princess who's four, and she just loved it. Anything having to do with her being a princess is great, she would say. I so wish someone would have told me this before I got married. I foolishly gave away my first kiss at age twelve in a game of truth or dare at a friends pool party! Oh, I just cringe at the thought of the boys I kissed, the way I gave away my heart too easily and too often without even having it asked for. I would have been saved so much heartache if I had been taught the truth about boyfriends, dating, and romance. I'm glad that God used my sin for His glory, but how wonderful would it have been to never have gotten my heart set on winning the affection of an ungodly boy, to never have given away God's gift of that first kiss to someone whose name I can't even remember now! I pray for purity for my girls, and for my boys for that matter. May they save their hearts for their future husbands or wives, may they never give away their first kiss, may they always be true princesses and princes of Christ. Amen!

One more thing...

I just wanted to say today, that since "mother's day" is officially over for another year, how absolutely annoying it is for everyone to stake claims on what belongs to the Lord. How is it "mother's" day, when God said is His day! GRRRR! - Makes me so angry!

Exercise!

Yahoo! I went for a walk again today, something that is pretty rare since the birth of my fourth child eight months ago. But I feel so good after that, it makes me wonder what I was waiting for!

Well, this is how the setup goes anyway. Molly(8 mos.) goes in the Baby Bjorn carrier, Noah(3yrs.) and Knox(2yrs.) sit in the jogger stroller, while Gracie(4yrs.) and I walk. Rather, I walk and poor Gracie runs! It was actually pathetic to see her trying to keep up with me even though I wasn't going all that fast and we took two breaks during a half hour walk! But, leave it up toTexas weather to make the whole experience miserable for us. Imagine 80 degrees but so much humidity that it feels more like 90 easily. Yuck! Makes me wonder what we were thinking moving away from the Bay area! Nevertheless, it was so good to move again, and I did get some exercise, even if it was from putting on shoes and loading up the stroller and the baby carrrier!

The Love of God

So, my pastor preached on Sunday about how the church tends toward growing cold and forgetting the love of God. Amen! Exactly what I've been struggling with these last few years. I don't feel God's love as a reality in my life and I tend to strive to obey so He doesn't get annoyed at me and just kill me off. What?! Am I crazy? Don't be quick to answer that. How do I ever doubt the extent of His love? This Father of mine who plucked me out of basic obscurity from the masses of naked slobbering gremlins and said, "You there! You will be my beautiful bride today. You will be clothed in white silks and lace and draped in the most expensive and purest of jewels. You will be considered the most beautiful of women and will forever absolved of any more disgusting crimes. No more will you be a thief, a brother hater, an adulterer, and liar. From now on, you are the purest of pure. But what is that you say? You are that way to your core and have no hope of changing on your own? Don't fear, I will take for you my most precious Son, yes I know He's the only one I have and that He is utterly perfect, but that is what is necessary to bring you closer to Me. I will send Him down to the pit where you reside and He will allow the other gremlins to take Him and do their wicked way with Him. He will be in an enormous amount of pain, forget what you know about child birth, this is far worse. And in the end He will hang from His own flesh with the breath to painful for Him to draw to continue on His life. This is how much I love you. How could you possibly doubt how precious you are to me after that?"

I want to remember this and strive to obey because of this instead of trying to earn a worthless medal that the world gives out.

Lord, I long for the day when it will not be a struggle to remember anymore. Thank you for Your love. Thank you.